Driver Escapes Jail Term After Car Proved "Not Fast Enough"

A UK driver has avoided a jail term after it was determined that his Lotus Elise was physically incapable of reaching the 278km/h (173 mph) that he was supposedly recorded doing.

In the UK, a 150mph-plus speeding ticket is also a go-directly-to-jail card. Understandable, considering you'd have be certifiably mad to be going that fast on a public road.

But Tex O'Reilly (the Lotus' driver) can sleep easy in the knowledge that his car tops out at just 204km/h (127 mph), thereby making it impossible for him to have been travelling at that jailterm-worthy speed.

He didn't get off scot-free, however. O'Reilly pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of dangerous driving, and admitted that he was doing 169km/h (105 mph) when caught by police.

That was enough to earn him a two-year driving ban and a hefty £5000 fine, but hey, that sure beats having a swastika carved into your buttcheek by a crack-addicted skinhead after "lights out".

[Telegraph]